upgrade my old motherboard and processor (P7P55D-E LX and i5 760)

[gray9596]

Hi,

I'm completely new to this so here goes.

I've had my gaming rig for 9 years now. this is the spec:

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 760 @ 2.80GHz 36 °C
Lynnfield 45nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. P7P55D-E LX (LGA1156) 38 °C
Graphics
G2420HDBL (1920x1080@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Gigabyte) 24 °C
Storage
931GB SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device (SATA ) 26 °C
232GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB ATA Device (SATA (SSD)) 27 °C
1862GB Western Digital WD My Passport 259D USB Device (USB (SATA) ) 29 °C
Optical Drives
ATAPI iHOS104 ATA Device
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223L ATA Device
Audio
Plantronics HD1

However, I need to do more work using virtual machines and this just isn't up to it, so I'd like to change the motherboard and cpu.

Can anyone suggest a motherboard and CPU that I could upgrade to.

Many thanks

 

[bigtallanddopey]

What is your budget? I think is the first and main question. You will also need to upgrade your ram as well as any new CPU’s use DDR4 so that will need to be taken into consideration.

Everything else should work fine with a change of the main components.

 

[gray9596]

Hi,

Budget is probably around the £300 to £350 mark if that sounds about right. I don't really know the costs. But a processor that equates to the old i5 one that I have would be perfectly fine.

Thanks

 

[bigtallanddopey]

I used to have an i7 from that generation, the new processors are night and day compared to what you have. However you won’t be getting an i5 for that budget, prices are still a little high at the moment.

The are a couple of routes. I picked all the parts from Overclockers.co.uk maybe cheaper elsewhere.

6 core 12 threads at the top end of just under £350


https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-3b9-am.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...zen-tuned-ddr4-memory-dual-kit-my-4bx-cs.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asrock-b450-pro4-socket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-16b-ak.html

A little cheaper, but the cpu isn’t out yet. Same board and ram as above but with a 4 core 8 thread cpu. £300

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-3c0-am.html

I don’t think for your budget I would recommend an Intel cpu right now. For the same performance as both of these options above you would be looking at more money. Or the same money for less performance.

Intel will be releasing some new processors in a week or so but we don’t know anything about the performance or real world prices just yet. Maybe hold off a few more weeks until after that launch. However I don’t think a lot will change with what I have shown you and they will be a big performance increase.

 

[gray9596]

Thank you so much for your help and even listing the products.

I've never used AMD CPU's before but I think they've come a long way since my rig.

I presume I can still use my nvidia GTX 1050 card with this motherboard ?

 

[EarthDog]

You can use that GPU with that motherboard, yep.

 

[bigtallanddopey]

Thank you so much for your help and even listing the products.

I've never used AMD CPU's before but I think they've come a long way since my rig.

Yeh AMD is killing it right now, they don’t quite have the ultimate performance that intel have, but price vs performance cannot be matched at the moment.

 

[gray9596]

thanks for confirming

 

[Zerileous]

A couple weeks ago I would have recommended the 1600 "AF" SKU, which was really a 2600 for $85 USD, but now prices on that part have become inflated due to demand and it is not currently a good deal. If you're not currently playing games that use more than 4 cores, the 3300x or 3100 are good deals, however for longevity I'm not sure how well they will do.

If you are not in a hurry to buy, B550 chipset motherboards should be available in the next 6 weeks. These will support an additional generation (4000 series) of CPUs, making the prospect of building with an inexpensive 4c part now and upgrading later more appealing.

Are you also using a 9 year old power supply? I don't see it listed in the system specs. I would recommend replacing this as well if possible, or at least in the near future. Unlike in previous years, a focus on a high quality unit is more important than padding the wattage rating with extra capacity.

Since your headset is listed in the specs, I'll ask are you focused on audio quality? More expensive motherboards (and some budget models) will have the ALC1220 which is quite good for integrated audio.

 

[gray9596]

Hi Zerileous.

Thanks for the reply, I'm actually going with the suggestions made by bigtallanddopey.

My power supply is probably 9 years old, but if I don't need to change it I will use it for the new MB.

my headset is actually a plantronics RIG ESL which is really great.

My main challenge is now doing the change myself as I've never done this before and I don't want to fry my new components.

Thanks

 

[Zerileous]

The 3600 will treat you very well, enjoy!